"It's too hot," Chloe's voice passed through the hall. It was that irritating whine she did when things were not going her way. It was like she wanted everyone else to feel her discomfort so she channeled the annoyance through her voice.

Marinette tried to ignore her by focusing on her project, but the hot thick air made it hard to focus on anything. Marinette couldn't get a design finished and Alya hadn't gotten through writing the first sentence of her latest post. Their classmates weren't doing much better. Many of them were sitting in the hall in their underwear trying to catch the breeze of the only working air conditioner in the dormitory.

"When are they going to fix the air conditioning?" Alya said, spinning her chair away from her laptop. "It's been broken for years."

"I'm beginning to think the air conditioning is a myth," Alix said, popping her head in through the doorway.

They all nodded in agreement. None of them had ever witnessed this so called air conditioning system. The summers were like living in an oven. Chloe often claimed she could get a tan without even going outside. The winters were like living in a freezer. The girls got very well acquainted during their first winter since they had to huddle together for warmth.

"Maybe if we all pretend we're somewhere cooler," Rose said, "we'll feel cooler."

Rose's optimism was enough to convince them all to give it a try. Nobody felt any cooler.

"I knew that wouldn't work," Chloe said, "the idea was nonsense."

"Hey," Marinette said, "it's not Rose's fault this place was poorly designed."

Her peers groaned. No one was excited to hear another one of Marinette's design lectures.

Marinette frowned.

"All I'm saying is we wouldn't need air conditioning if this building was made better," Marinette said.

"But is there anything we could do about it?" Alya said.

"Well, we could plant a tree," Marinette said.

Her peers groaned.

"I heard the boys have air conditioning," Mylene said.

"Their dorms are too far away," Alya said, "and we're not allowed to stay over there either."

"We should just boot them," Alix said, "take over their dorms and all that. I think we can take them."

"Then we'd get expelled," Mylene said.

"You're the one who brought it up," Alix said.

The girls talked around in circles. It was too hot, too much trouble, or too much work to put any of their ideas into effect. They decided to just lay on the floor until night fall, then it'd be cooler at least.

"I hope you girls don't plan on laying around all day," Housemaster Tikki said as she walked down the hall. Tikki was in black shorts and a red tank top, in high contrast to her usual layered dresses. Her brown skin was glistening with sweat, but she wore a gentle smile as she approached them. "There are still so many chores to be done. The laundry has piled up, the floors haven't been cleaned in more than a week, and we need to prepare dinner. Then there's the fact that you all have school tomorrow and I've gotten zero reports of completed homework."

"How are you clothed and walking right now?" Alix said.

"I'm your caretaker," Tikki said, "walking around in my underwear would be highly inappropriate. Now come on and get up, there's lemonade waiting in the dining room."

The girls trudged down the hall, following Tikki to the dining room. The lemonade was cool to the touch and refreshing to the taste buds. Tikki set ot their homework and textbooks. They worked in silence besides the occasional complaint from Chloe. Tikki poured them lemonade as they worked and assigned chores as they finished.

Marinette and Alya were sorting laundry and talking about some of the very risqué panties and bras of their peers, when Marinette got distracted by a sound. Alya noticed, but before she could form a question, Marinette shushed her. The sound of pattering and spray came from outside. Marinette jumped up.

"The sprinklers are on," she said.

She dashed out of the laundry room, Alya followed. They ran through the hall spreading the news to their classmates. Soon all the girls were running through the grass being sprayed with water. The sprinklers turned off. They all groaned. It'd been so short lived. They trudged towards the doorway. When they got there Tikki was standing at the top of the steps with her arms crossed. There was a bucket on either side of her.

"We can explain," Marinette said, but before she could get any further, she was sprayed with a hose. She hadn't even seen Tikki pick it up. Then Tikki reached into one of the buckets and chucked a water balloon at them. The girls scattered leaving Marinette standing there as Tikki ran down the steps and sprayed her.

Marinette laughed.

Alix got one of the buckets and started pelting everyone with water balloons. Alya got her hands on another hose. The sun gleamed down at them as they ran around having a water fight. Laughter filled the air. By the time they were done the sun was setting and they were thoroughly soaked. Tikki ushered them inside and told them to shower before dinner.